Excitement as Dubai royals announce engagement

Daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is to wed

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The UAE will soon have its own royal wedding as Sheikha Maryam, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to wed Sheikh Suhail bin Ahmed Al Maktoum.

Sheikha Fatima bint Rashid, Sheikh Mohammed's sister, and other members of the Royal Family circulated news of the engagement on their Instagram accounts last week.

No details of the wedding date have been announced, but congratulatory messages are already pouring in from the Royal Family and UAE residents, with a picture of the couple circulating widely on social media.

Sheikha Maryam has yet to comment on her engagement. It has been a little over a year since her sister, Sheikha Latifa, married Sheikh Faisal Saud Khalid Al Qasimi.

In November last year, the couple got engaged in a grand ceremony attended by family and friends at Dubai’s World Trade Centre. That engagement was also announced on Instagram.

Members of the Royal Family also posted a congratulatory poem, dedicated to Sheikha Maryam’s engagement, with an image of the names of the couple intertwining,

“Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness and endless blessings,” Sheikha Latifa commented.

In another Instagram post, Sheikh Mohammed’s niece, Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum aid: “Congratulations to my cousin @maryam_mrm and @suhailbenahmed on their upcoming wedding. May you find a lifetime of happiness in this union.”

The wedding, like most royal weddings, is expected to be attended by the royal families, dignitaries and VIPs of the UAE.

Sheikha Latifa’s wedding last year on December 1 was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre and led to a flood of social media postings with pictures of lavish and grand decorations.

In 1979, a particularly lavish royal wedding took place in Dubai between Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum and Sheikh Mohammed. The event reportedly had 20,000 guests and celebrations lasted for five days.

Sheikha Maryam is a Zayed University business graduate with a passion for photography, poetry and animals.